TayanaLorna

It took me one cruise of missing it too. Now it is my first am stop.

We arrived on Viking last December to San Juan with our last port of call in St. Martin. Negative Covid tests were required. In addition Puerto Rico deemed the PCR spit test that Viking did was not good enough so Viking had to scramble to bring on board people who did the nasal swab PCR test. We all had a specific time at which we had to report to the Star Theater for our swabbing. However, once you disembark in San Juan you are in the US and do not need a test to fly home.

We were the only people arriving at 4:00 pm in Barcelona last Fall and Viking sent a Mercedes sedan with driver to get us. Driver spoke no English but when he learned I spoke Spanish, he gave us a tour on the way to the hotel. We were quite happy. They will have an appropriate sized vehicle for the number of people with early flights.

Although we take tons of photos and i write stories we never edit and post until we have time once we are home and even that takes months sometimes. Even with multiple sea days in a row we find something to do on board. I can be extremely active on my CC roll call before the cruise but barely log in once sailing. We each have our travel priorities so i get it.

We did this Viking cruise in January-February, 2020 and loved it. We flew into Santiago 2 days early on our own and enjoyed the extra time to see Santiago, have an all day private excursion into the Andes, and an all day tour to the seaside home of Pablo Neruda and a wine tasting in the Casablanca Valley with drop off at the ship in Valparaiso that evening. Those busy days coupled with the Viking Valpo tour, we were more then happy to have our first sea day early in the cruise. Yes there are a lot of sea days and there is always the possibility of having more if a port cannot be made due to weather. However of the 8 scheduled sea days, only 4 of them are days where all you see is the sea and birds and there are lots of things to do on board. The days sailing through the fjords of Patagonia, to the Amalie Glacier and Around Cape Horn are spectacular no matter what the weather. Even the first sea day from Valpo has the ship in sight of land. We love sea days, we enjoy watching the scenery pass by and for birds. We chose full long very active days in port mostly on private tours and were happy to have some down time inbetween. We actually had an additional sea day as the ship was only able to land 1 tender in the Falklands before the wind picked up. We were disappointed but its always a risk. We felt there would be no way to visit so many countries in SA and see so much (world class cities, outpost towns, spectacular nature settings and wildlife) other then a cruise. There would be no way to do it without flying or driving thousands of miles through 4 countries.

Following. I too have been looking. There is a lot on Trip Advisor but the problem is most of the reviews are pre Covid and old. Brazil hasn't been open for international cruise ships for very long.

Nor with us.

Only choice I ever saw was reservation for 2 or Invite Others. I tried to invite others but could not because we were in a PV but they were DV and their booking window had not opened yet. I can't recall exactly but believe we needed more then their name - needed Stateroom # and i think booking number also. If you successfully invite 2, I don't know if you can invite 2 more and so on. With 10, you can probably reserve the private room at the Chefs Table or Manfredi's for a night once on board. On our next cruise we will have 5 couples and will try to do this. We don't plan to dine together every night but it will be fun to experience the private room once. Aside from all this, we have never had a problem combining reservations made for the same night or added another 2 people for a total of 6. We just may not get the exact time we booked. If all 10 of you want to dine together every night, then talk to Guest Services as soon as you board.

LOL I was thinking of doing the same - maybe near the elevators.

I join your many followers in saying Thank You for all your blog posts. They have been entertaining, heartfelt and informative. Your photos are outstanding. Your dedication to write each day as it happens is awesome. I've used blogspot as the platform for my journaling and our photos from travels. However when we travel i barely get my hand written notes done let alone ever writing the blog. Thank you so much for taking us with you.

Vina del Mar and Valparaiso are right next to each other. Vina del Mar is the local summer and weekend holiday place to go. Traffic could be bad especially on weekends. Other then the Fronck Museum, the Flower Clock, the Casino there is not much to see. Its a town of beachfront condos and wide boulvards of shopping. The Viking included gave a good overview but only stop was the Museum. Valparaiso is very very hilly but there are funiculars running up and down the levels. Its more historic with narrow streets opening into charming quiet plazas. Grafitti here is taken to new levels and is considered street art. There is lots to do and see. Two of the Pablo Neruda homes are here to tour. Some people commented that Valparaiso is run down. It depends not what you look at but the way that you see. There are walking tours by locals that people have loved. We didn't take one because i was afraid i couldn't keep up. I did a journal with lots of photographs of most of our Santiago to Buenas Aires Around Cape Horn cruise ports. It can be found at www.Tomko2Travel.blogspot.com. If you are interested you will need to keep clicking on More Posts to get to the beginning for the posts in and around Valpo.

Could be. Did you book yours from a Promotion? Ours was an April and then a May promotion. Could be June too but we didn't want to take the chance.

Our cruise is February 19, 2023 and our final payment is June 30th. I was expecting it to be within days of booking as we were within a year. Delighted it was not and did not question.

Great sign! From owning my own sailboat with a holding tank, we did not even put TP in the toilet so i knew what to not do on a cruise ship. However i do not recall a room steward ever telling us about the flushing don'ts during the orientation when we first arrived in the room.

That is interesting. We have done our own air arriving on embarkation day and paid the $49 transfer fee. However we were told if we arrive a day early we cannot buy the transfer even if we make our way back to the airport. Learn something new.

Normally we don't get Viking transfers from the airport to the ship unless we are on a Viking extension and then it is from the hotel which Viking books for you. Even if you used Viking Air and arrive the day before your cruise begins that is considered a deviation and transfer is not included.

Not on our two 2021 cruises. Nor were there any yoga, meditation, stretching classes or the evening Nordic Spa classes.

I always did our own flights until last Fall when the airfare was free with Viking. Used Iberia and all was good. I am resumed booking our own flights because I can do it cheaper for our next cruise. Pre Covid there rarely was an all out flight cancellation and if there were changes it was a minor time difference. In the past year, with crew and pilot shortages, the airlines have been cancelling and changing flights a lot. That's not Vikings fault. The advantage of using Viking is often times the fare is cheaper. The other reason is if your flight is changed or cancelled while you are already cruising, if you miss a connection or have any trouble with your flights, Viking will help you. The disadvantage is it's harder to upgrade and you can't use FF miles. Viking just gives you an itinerary and you have no say unless you get Air Plus. You lose the included transfers if you fly in days early or stay days after plus have to pay a Deviation fee if you do. You can't get a firm seat assignment until Viking tickets which is usually 60 days before the cruise.

I am so sorry to hear that. Were you both vaccinated and with booster?

With the first Welcome Back cruises in July 2021 we made main dining room reservations but they were not needed. They only time I ever saw a long line was on our TA last Fall. People would begin lining up at 5:30 for the 6:00 pm opening. We went elsewhere or waited to go after 6 pm on that cruise. Other then that we never waited very long to be seated. And if there is a brief wait, there are chairs and sofas to sit on.

Check this also. In MVJ, when you click on Shore Excursions, it takes you to all the days of your cruise with Day 1 highlighted. Day 1 never has excursions. On my last 2 cruises since start up and excursion posting irregularities, I found if I clicked on any other day but the first day or a sea day, there were excursions listed. The only reason I tried this is because others on my Roll Call were saying the excursions were up but I kept seeing "not available". Go figure...

Good advice.

Out of four VO cruises, about the closest I ever sensed the desire to discuss US political issues was when we were required to wear masks all the time. That discussion would have been fruitless because even the Captain was reminding us it was required to wear a mask. But political leanings of Viking cruisers? Never really heard discussions but often would get a sense of which way someone was leaning. At any rate, we would avoid political discussers the same way we would avoid complainers. No positive juju there.

Well, I'll be... didn't know that.

Had a friend with Covid who asked for the anti viral from his doctor. Was told he was not sick enough.